Volkswagen Arteon Shooting Brake We welcome our stylish large estate
Are style and practicality mutually exclusive? Our sleek new wagon is out to prove that they aren’t
IF YOU’RE THINKING of buying a Volkswagen Arteon Shooting Brake, I should warn you that you’ll have to get used to a conversation which has played out almost on a daily basis since I took delivery of my car. It goes like this…
“Cor, that’s a lovely car, mate” is usually the opening gambit, invariably followed by a bit of a pause, and then: “But what is it?”
Because an Arteon – any Arteon – is a rare beast here in the UK. A good friend of mine had one for a while a couple of years back and still regularly tells me it’s the best-kept secret on the car market today. That lack of awareness of the model means some impressive deals are available: buy through our free online New Car Buying service and you can currently save £5667 on the list price for my 2.0 TSI 190 R-line.
It probably doesn’t help that the Arteon is hard to pigeonhole. The original four-door coupé cum saloon has been around for four years now, and is, in essence, a slightly more affordable alternative to the Audi A5 Sportback, but this new version adds ‘estate car’ into that already complex crossover mixture.
It’s a car created for someone who craves the head-turning style of a luxury coupé but needs the practicality of four proper seats and a large boot. And as far as I can tell, it doesn’t really have a direct rival. The Mercedes-benz CLA Shooting Brake gets closest, sharing its name and basic concept, not to mention being similarly priced, but even this sits a class below the Arteon in terms of size.
My car’s turbocharged 2.0-litre petrol engine represents the sweet spot of the range, with enough performance to deliver on the rakish looks yet also reasonable fuel economy when driven sensibly; a 40mpg-plus average is easily achievable on the motorway.
Its 187bhp maximum output isn’t huge, but a punchy 236lb ft of torque all the way from 1500-4100rpm means you don’t need to rev it to death to achieve decent pace.
The only gearbox option is Volkswagen’s DSG seven-speed dual-clutch automatic, which is no hardship, although (unlike plug-in hybrid versions) it does have a delay when pulling away that takes some getting used to.
Like so many of those people who come up and chat to me about the car, I was immediately seduced by the looks of the Arteon. Long, low and lithe, it masks its proportions well and appears far more athletic than a traditional estate. The front is a tiny bit too American for my tastes, with all that chrome, but the rear is beautifully resolved. And in sporty R-line trim with the 10mm suspension drop that comes with my car’s sports suspension (a £925 option), it has a fantastic stance.
As someone who has previously run a Volkswagen Passat Estate (and loved it), I was slightly nervous about the apparent reduction in load-lugging ability that going for a ‘coupé estate’ would lead to. But I needn’t have worried; if anything, the Arteon feels like a more substantial car than the Passat, almost reviving memories of the Phaeton luxury car.
The lip at the boot entrance is quite high, but the load bay is enormous, its 590 litres lagging only 60 behind the cavernous Passat. What’s more, space for occupants is similarly generous, particularly in the rear, where the raised roofline results in better head room and an airier feel than in the regular Arteon.
In a world where car makers are producing more and more obscure variations on a theme, and it’s often hard to tell who they were created for, so far this is one niche into which my life appears to fit like a glove.
LOGBOOK
Volkswagen Arteon Shooting Brake 2.0 TSI 190 R-line
Mileage 4805
List price £38,940 Target Price £33,273
Price as tested £47,070
Options fitted Upholstery upgrade (£1535), ergocomfort driver’s seat (£1170), Dynamic Chassis Control (£925), towbar (£865), areaview and rear-view camera (£815), heated rear seats (£805), Manganese Grey metallic paint (£650), head-up display (£530), heated windscreen (£360),Acoustic Pack (£305) and tyre pressure monitoring (£170)
Test economy 31.4mpg
Official economy 35.6mpg
86 October 2021